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The document advocates for Sustainable Land Management (SLM) as an integrated approach to combat land degradation, desertification, and climate change, with a specific focus on the Mediterranean Basin. It identifies four primary barriers to SLM implementation—economic, educational, institutional, and monitoring—and suggests that mainstreaming SLM into broader policy frameworks can overcome these obstacles. In the Mediterranean Basin, where water availability is the most critical limiting factor, the brief proposes specific SLM actions such as reforestation, improving irrigation efficiency, and preserving traditional extensive systems to manage the water budget. The authors highlight the Mediterranean Strategy for Sustainable Development (MSSD) 2016-2025 and the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) as key institutional frameworks that can facilitate the scaling of local SLM successes to a regional level.

The green bond market in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) is growing, with USD 12.6 billion issued since 2014. Brazil, Chile, and Mexico dominate the market, with Chile leading the region in sovereign green bond issuance. While energy is the most funded sector, LAC shows a higher proportion of funding for land use and industry compared to global trends. The report highlights significant opportunities for growth in sustainable agriculture and the 'blue economy' (ocean-based resources), while noting that public sector entities and financial institutions have substantial untapped potential for future green issuances.

The document explores how green bonds can support Brazil's agricultural sector, noting that while the forestry sector has successfully used these instruments, sustainable agriculture remains underfunded. It highlights the underutilization of government programs like the ABC Program and suggests that securitizing small loans via Certificados de Recebíveis do Agronegócio (CRA) and leveraging bank-issued green bonds could bridge the financing gap for sustainable practices.

The document examines the gap between Brazil's agricultural importance and its limited use of green bonds for the sector, which has been primarily restricted to forestry and paper. It highlights that while government programs like the Low Carbon Agriculture Program (ABC) exist, they are underutilised due to complex application processes and a lack of understanding among financial institutions. The authors argue that green bonds and securitisation tools like Certificates of Agribusiness Receivables (CRA) could scale sustainable financing by aggregating small loans and attracting international capital.

The report establishes a framework for certifying forestry-related bonds, focusing on ensuring that funded projects contribute to a low-carbon and climate-resilient economy. It defines eligible assets—including plantation forestry, sustainable forest management, and conservation/restoration projects—and sets specific requirements for mitigation and adaptation. Key measures include a prohibition on natural landscape conversion since 2010 and the use of a resilience checklist. The framework leverages existing industry standards, specifically FSC and PEFC, as proxies for many management requirements while adding specific climate-risk assessments.

The report analyzes Mpumalanga's spatial status, identifying a resource-rich province dominated by coal mining and agriculture but facing severe environmental degradation and infrastructure backlogs. Key findings highlight that while the province is a national energy hub, it suffers from poor air quality in the Highveld, critical water scarcity, and significant housing shortages. The analysis emphasizes the need for urban restructuring, agrarian transformation in rural areas, and the protection of strategic water source areas and biodiversity corridors against mining encroachment.

The document outlines how to apply a gender and social equality (GSE) lens to sustainable development research to uncover power relations and inequalities. It defines key concepts such as intersectionality, the distinction between sex and gender, and the role of social constructions in creating hierarchies. The guide provides a framework for analyzing norms, division of labour, resource access, and decision-making power, while offering specific methodological advice for defining research questions, collecting data from diverse social groups, and presenting results to ensure the voices of marginalized populations are represented.

The document outlines four key actions for state, provincial, and regional governments to address land use's role in climate change: sustainable land management, open space conservation, agricultural methane capture, and regenerative agriculture. It emphasizes that land use is best managed at the subnational level to capture rural impacts and cross-jurisdictional effects, noting that while agriculture, forestry, and other land use account for 24% of global emissions, the sector can offset this by 20% through carbon removal.

The Independent Evaluation Unit (IEU) reported progress on its 2018 work plan between January and May 2018, focusing on institutional strengthening, the development of a GCF evaluation policy, and the initiation of several key evaluations. The IEU is developing an evaluation policy through extensive stakeholder consultations and a reference group of international agencies. Key technical activities include the creation of evidence maps for forestry, adaptation, and transformational change, as well as a study on the evaluability of the GCF portfolio. The unit is also conducting a readiness evaluation and reviewing the GCF results management framework. To support these goals, the IEU has established partnerships with organizations such as the FAO and the Global Development Network and has launched a new website and newsletter to communicate standards and findings. As of April 30, 2018, the IEU had utilized 22% of its approved annual budget of USD 2,953,867.

Earthjustice argues that the U.S. House Farm Bill (H.R. 2) contained 'poison pill' provisions that threatened water quality, old-growth forests, endangered species, and climate adaptation efforts, while restricting public access to justice.

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines is implementing a National Adaptation Plan (NAP) to mainstream climate adaptation into development planning and financing. The process, led by the Ministry of Finance, Economic Planning, Sustainable Development and Information Technology, identifies key climate hazards such as tropical storms, rising sea levels, and rainfall variability. Priority sectors for adaptation include agriculture, water, energy, tourism, and infrastructure. Between 2010 and 2014, extreme weather events caused losses exceeding 35 percent of the country's GDP.

Albania established the Inter Ministerial Working Group on Climate Change (IMWGCC) in 2014 to coordinate climate mitigation and adaptation. The NAP process began in 2015 with a participatory stocktaking workshop, with the goal of adopting a national strategy on climate change, a NAP document, and a national mitigation plan in 2018. The country's approach focuses on mainstreaming adaptation into sector plans and the National Strategy for Development and Integration, targeting priority sectors such as agriculture, forestry, tourism, energy, settlements, and water.

Malawi initiated its National Adaptation Plan (NAP) process in 2014, completing a stocktaking exercise and establishing a roadmap. The process is managed by a core team of adaptation experts collaborating with cross-sectoral experts to identify long-term priorities. To support this, Malawi submitted a NAP formulation proposal to the Green Climate Fund with technical assistance from UNEP. The document identifies key climate impacts—including wildfires, drought, floods, rainfall variability, and increasing temperatures—and priority sectors for adaptation such as agriculture, fisheries, health, infrastructure, energy, forestry, water, wildlife, and gender.

The agriculture and land sectors (AFOLU) contribute approximately 24% of total GHG emissions, but also sequester about one third of annual anthropogenic emissions. While technical potentials for mitigation are high—with some estimates suggesting up to 23.8 GtCO2e yr-1 through conservation and restoration—significant uncertainties remain regarding the persistence of carbon sinks and the practical implementation of large-scale removals. Achieving Paris Agreement goals requires a combination of reducing deforestation, sustainable land intensification, and carbon dioxide removal (CDR) technologies, though these are often hindered by institutional, economic, and socio-cultural barriers rather than just technical limitations.

The document argues that current NDCs are insufficient to limit warming to 1.5°C and calls for transformative systemic change across all sectors. It provides a framework for governments to conduct national gap analyses, align their short-term plans with long-term global requirements, and implement disruptive innovations and governance reforms. Key recommendations include the urgent withdrawal of financial support for fossil fuels and the integration of climate-resilient planning into mainstream development and Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) strategies.

The Responsible Commodities Facility (RCF) aims to redirect agricultural production in the Brazilian Cerrado to degraded lands to prevent further deforestation. It will provide low-cost crop financing and land restoration loans to 600 farms, targeting a cumulative lending amount of over US$ 3 billion over 10 years. The facility intends to generate over US$ 20 billion worth of deforestation-free soy and corn, utilizing green bonds for funding and a blockchain registry for traceability. The project expects to restore 1.2 million hectares of degraded land, potentially avoiding or sequestering up to 55 million tonnes of carbon emissions.

The GCF Board's 18th meeting in Cairo focused on operationalizing the fund's implementation phase. Key outcomes include the approval of multiple funding proposals across various regions, the accreditation of five new entities, and the adoption of a Simplified Approval Process (SAP) pilot for small-scale activities. The Board also approved a new Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism Policy and a revised administrative budget and staffing target of 250 employees for 2018. However, consensus was not reached on a risk management framework or the selection process for a Permanent Trustee.

The report establishes ten sectoral benchmarks for 2020–2025 to align with the 1.5°C goal of the Paris Agreement, emphasizing the need for large-scale technology diffusion and sector transformations over marginal efficiency gains. Key targets include a total ban on new coal power plants, a 30% reduction in emissions from the existing coal fleet by 2025, and ensuring all new buildings are fossil-free and near-zero energy by 2020.

Ethiopia utilizes the Climate-Resilient Green Economy (CRGE) strategy to aim for middle-income status by 2025 while reducing emissions and building resilience. The National Adaptation Plan (NAP) serves as a roadmap to mainstream adaptation across sectors and government levels, from federal to woreda. Key priority sectors for adaptation include agriculture, forestry, water, energy, transport, industry, health, and urban areas, addressing threats such as droughts, floods, rainfall variability, and increasing temperatures. The process has evolved from the 2007 National Adaptation Programme of Action (NAPA) through the Ethiopian Programme of Adaptation to Climate Change (EPACC) to the current NAP framework, with recent milestones including Green Climate Fund support for gender-responsive drought resilience.

Fiji's National Adaptation Plan (NAP) is designed as a continuous, iterative process to integrate climate adaptation and disaster risk reduction into sub-national development planning. The approach emphasizes inclusive partnerships across government, civil society, and the private sector, as well as horizontal and vertical integration to mainstream climate concerns across all ministries and local community needs. Key milestones include the 2017 creation of the NAP Framework and the accreditation of the Fiji Development Bank to the Green Climate Fund.